The present invention relates to a mechanism for use in connection with an automatic teller machine (ATM) to eliminate misfeeds and/or jamming of the deposit envelopes as they are fed into the machine. Specifically, the present invention is intended to be retrofitted into existing ATMs which now experience misfeeds and/or jamming of deposit envelopes and, in addition, it is intended that the pinch roller mechanism be incorporated into the design of newly manufactured automatic teller machines. Whether the automatic teller machines are originally provided with the mechanism of the present invention, or, alternatively, if the automatic teller machines are retrofitted with the pinch roller device, disclosed herein, the jamming and/or misfeed difficulties otherwise occurring from time to time when deposit envelopes are fed into the automatic teller machine are substantially eliminated. Service calls to maintenance workers are correspondingly, severely reduced.
Automatic teller machines are today in widespread use and enable banking customers to perform a variety of banking transactions, at any time of the day or night without the necessity of the bank providing individual tellers. These machines typically allow bank account information to be displayed to the customer, allow for the customer to withdraw cash, if desired, and, importantly, with respect to the present invention, allow the deposit of funds into the safety and security of the bank. These deposits, cash and/or checks, are placed into an envelope and the automatic teller machine, having a front-opening slot, receives from the depositor the front end of the envelope. Then the envelope is drawn through the deposit slot and into the machine. These envelopes often have a great deal of cash and/or checks in them and their thickness can lead to misfeeding and/or jamming of the infeed mechanism.
ATMs and specifically those manufactured and distributed by the Diebold Corporation are in widespread use. As mentioned, these machines include a mechanism for selectively receiving deposit envelopes of significant bulk. The deposit envelope mechanisms of existing ATMs generally include a pair of opposed conveyor belts of about 18' in length. The envelope sought to be deposited by the banking customer is drawn into the ATM by the envelope's leading edge being placed between the opposed conveyor belts and, then, a motor is automatically energized which causes the conveyor belts to rotate and thereby draw the envelope into the ATM. The conveyor belts are driven by either one or a pair of foam-like drive rollers which physically contact the underside surface of the conveyor belts and cause the conveyor belts to rotate in the desired infeed direction. These foam-like drive rollers are driven by an electrically powered drive motor.
In the summertime for the northern states of the United States and basically year-round in many of the southern states, high humidity causes the conveyor belts to become quite stiff. This results in the conveyor belts slipping with respect to the foam-like drive rollers. This results in deposit envelope misfeeds and/or jamming of the mechanism. In addition, simple aging of the conveyor belts and variations in the temperature/humidity conditions cause a tendency for the belts to slip. This, too, causes skewing and misfeeds of the envelopes and results in "deposit jam" failures in the machine. When this happens, the banking facility must shut down the ATM, resulting in inconvenience and annoyance to the bank's customers and the loss of access to these ATM devices. Further, the bank must call a service representative for repair of the machine. This is clearly expensive and results in significant down time for the ATM. The service representative for the machine replaces the entire modular linear depository assembly with a new assembly and then the machine is started up once again for banking transactions. While the present invention relates to all linear depository assemblies of ATMs, it has specific applicability to the envelope transfer belts in the linear depository assembly of the Diebold 910 Automatic Teller Machine. The present invention can be provided as a retro-fit mechanism for eliminating deposit jams from existing, in-the-field, machines or, alternatively, the present invention can be adapted for new ATMs. When so equipped, the ATMs will be capable of receiving thick deposit envelopes without deposit jam, independent of the temperature/humidity conditions and independent of the age of the belts. This clearly results in significant cost savings to the banking institutions, eliminates frequent service calls, eliminates the requirement for linear depository assemblies to be frequently replaced and serves the bank and its customers by maintaining the machines, in full operational capability, 24 hours of the day.